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This post is sponsored by AZ Mills but the concept, photos, and of course opinions are 100% my own!
I don’t know about your kids but shopping isn’t one of my kids’ favorite activities. Honestly it’s not one of mine either. This year going back to school the boys needed a LOT of clothes so I kept putting off our shopping until I planned a whole day to shop at Arizona Mills in Tempe.
Arizona Mills is the largest outlet and value retail shopping destination in Arizona (and our favorite for boys’ clothes!) I thought this would be a great place to do a big shopping trip with the boys because they have a lot of activities other than shopping that we could do if the boys were over the shopping part. They have SEA LIFE Arizona (that we frequent regularly), GameWorks, Harkins Luxury 25 Cinemas and Harkins IMAX Theatre and restaurants such as, Claim Jumper, Garcia’s and Rainforest Café.
We started our trip at Oneill – one of the boys’ and my favorites. The whole store was 40% off while we were there so there was LOTS to look at!
Tip 1: One thing I did differently this shopping trip to try and have a little more fun was let the boys lead the shopping. They took us to see what they liked and we talked about what they would like to wear to school and what went together. It ended up working out really well. The boys loved being able to pick things out in their own time and pace.
Tip 2: Bring reinforcements. I always make sure to have time wasters with me. Things that can be played with or done while standing in a longer line or waiting for someone to try on clothes. For older kids iphones, small activity books, wiki sticks. For younger kids small toys, toddler iphone apps etc. And snacks for all!
The boys were so excited about all their choices that they wanted to carry their bags around.
The Hurley store is another fav
Arizona Mills has a Disney Store Outlet! No matter how quick our trip is we always make it a point to stop in.
Some other favorite stores for kids’ clothes are H&M, Sprocket, Osh Kosh, Carters, Tilly’s, p.s. from aeropostale, Children’s Place Outlet, Gymboree Outlet, Crazy 8 and if you have a girl a new Justice is opening soon! You can see all the stores HERE
SO many great options for kids – the boys had a blast choosing stores to go into.
When the kids start getting antsy a trip to the food court is in order (the food court is undergoing renovation and will be all new in January).
The boys’ favorite part? The IMAX theater and Gameworks!
Tip 3: Take breaks. When everyone is getting tired of trying on or picking out clothes is a great time to take a break for lunch or play. There is a play space as well as little ride on machines throughout the mall but Gameworks and SEA LIFE Arizona are our favorite break stops.
Tip 4: Food! For us if we are there more than a couple hours a full meal is necessary. Rainforest Cafe is always fun for families
So how did our entire trip go? The boys have plenty of outfits (we’ll show you those next weekend) there were no tears AND we left Arizona Mills with smiles!
Tip 5: Take your time. Shopping with kids can be fun or a complete diaster. One of my biggest tips is take your time, relax and go with the flow. If you’re trying to rush to get somewhere you’re going to be stressed and everyone is going to feed off of that. Plan your big shopping trip when you have time to enjoy it and each other!
If you’re in the Phoenix area I definitely recommend a stop at Arizona Mills! They just opened Conn’s while we were there and they have a big Labor Day Sale Weekend coming up August 30-September 2
Mall info:
Arizona Mills is located at the Arizona Mills interchange at the intersection of Interstate I-10 and US Highway 60 in Tempe, AZ, about 14 miles east of downtown Phoenix. Regular mall hours are 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m., Mon-Sat, and 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. For more information on Arizona Mills, please call (480) 491-9700, visit www.arizonamills.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArizonaMills and Twitter at www.twitter.com/ShopAZMills
Maybe one day we could plan a local meetup at AZ Mills – what do you think?
